Oklahoma Amends Telephone Solicitation Statutes to Include Cellular Telephone Calls and Text Messages

On May 26, Oklahoma’s Governor approved legislation amending provisions of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act and its Telemarketer Restriction Act to address the rapidly increasing use of text messages for commercial solicitation. The new law modifies relevant statutory definitions and expands existing consumer protections related to commercial telephone solicitation to include cellular telephone calls and text messages made by automatic dialing devices without the use of a live operator. The legislation also instructs the Attorney General to expand the do-not-call registry to include an opt-in list of consumers who would do not want to receive any unsolicited telemarketing text messages.